Heads up displays (HUDs) are an intrinsic part of a modern aircraft cockpit for assisting and augmenting the decision making capability of the pilot. The HUDs, Windscreen Projection Displays, and Helmet Mounted Displays (HMDs) typically provide primary flight, navigation, and/or guidance information to the pilots in their forward field of view superimposed on a background image or a see-through combiner, thus allowing the simultaneous scanning of both instrument data and the out-of-the-window scene. This improves pilot decision making by providing information to the pilot without the pilot having to look down at the instrument panel.
Although HUDs have been deployed to improve flight performance and better situational awareness, there are perceptual and cognitive issues associated with HUDs. Through research a number of issues related to the pilot distribution of attention to near details (HUD symbologies) and far details (out-of-the-window scene), generally referred to as visual or cognitive capture, have been identified. The research also clearly shows the relationship between HUD symbology display characteristics (luminance, contrast ratio) and background lighting condition and the impact on a pilot's attention capture.
For example, pilots tend to focus on the HUD symbology and lose focus on background image details if a symbologies' contrast ratio is too high. Similarly, if the symbologies' contrast is too low, pilots may tend to focus on the background image and overlook information conveyed through the symbology. It would therefore be beneficial to adjust the attributes of the symbologies displayed on the HUD based on the background image. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods and systems for displaying information. Other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.